Like many of the surrounding suburbs of Toronto, Burlington has larger homes on bigger properties and streets that seem to go no where. In addition to that parents of the Burlington area were worried about student safety (and who wouldn’t these days with two pedestrian deaths in the Toronto area yesterday). Each day more kids get a drive to school than walk.

The program in Burlington encourages teachers and student volunteers to ‘pick up’ students much like a bus would, but instead of a bus they all walk together. It is active transportation at its best. Plus it means more time for students to socialize with their friends.

There are so many benefits to students walking to school:

• It stimulates their bodies making them more alert and attentive at school
• It stimulates their metabolism; increasing their metabolic rates and food processing abilities
• It gets the ‘social bug’ out – instead of socializing in the classroom students socialize on the way to school
• It encourages life long lessons in exercise

Ontario is encouraging students to walk to school, as both a green community initiative and as an active transportation initiative. There are no 40 communities participating in the Active and Safe Routes to School Program, all the way from Windsor to Ottawa and up and over to Kenora.

How did your kids get to school today? Change up your routines and encourage your children to be more active.

My undergraduate engineering program was in structural (civil) engineering. I studied structures, concrete, steel, wood, wind … anything and everything to do with structural engineering. Although I never thought I would work as a structural engineer at the time I thought it was the best path to follow.

It’s now round two (actually round three) and I’m doing my masters of engineering. Naturally I chose to again go into civil engineering. This time though I thought I would do more of a transportation flavour. But really my heart was in environmental.

With the help of an amazing staff at the University of Toronto, I am now enrolled (or soon to be enrolled) in the collaborative civil and environmental engineering program. It all came together when I went to my first Mechanics of Reinforced Concrete lecture last Wednesday. Stress Tensors, Strains, cracking forces … interesting but not for me, I’d rather be in something related to sustainability. After some running around and talking to the right people I’m on the path, I’m taking a course in Infrastructure Economics and Evaluations of Sustainable Engineering activities – and more importantly I’m excited about my courses.

In the end I recommend you follow your heart with your education. It is far better to get up everyday and want to go to school, far better to open doors that lead you to a job that you love – life is too short to do something you dislike.

This back to school stuff got me thinking about simple ‘greening’ initiatives parents and students can do. Here they are (in no particular order):

1. Walk or Ride to School: Most Toronto students attend public schools that are walking or riding distance. Instead of turning on the car, walk or ride with your child to school. Not only is this a ‘green’ thing but it also falls under the Ontario mandate to increase active transportation.
2. Pack a Litterless Lunch: most of the students are learning about preserving our environment. It is no longer a ‘faux paux’ to bring your lunch in reusable containers. Plus I think they come with some funky characters these days.
3. Refillable Water Bottles: Juice is great, but too much juice is no good. It’s filled with sugar, which means a lot of extra calories. I won’t even go near soft drinks, regular or diet/light. Again like those cool looking containers water bottles also come with a wide variety of designs. McDonald’s is even promoting their Olympic ones right now. Encourage your kids to drink water
4. Extra-curricular activities: I preferred these to school any day and they may have been the reason I went to school. From visual and dramatic arts, to sports, to academic, including student council encourage your children to get involved both inside and outside their school.
5. Limit TV watching: when I was smaller I was limited to 30 minutes of TV per night. And most nights I didn’t even need that 30 minutes, mind you I was an ‘outdoorsy’ kid – tobogganing, cycling, tag, hide and seek, etc.
6. Limit Computer Time: Computers seem to be as bad, maybe worse, than TV. We are drawn into them. Again limit the time your child has with the computer and encourage them to do something more stimulating.
7. Encourage Part-time jobs: Yes, this is limited to older children. I worked in retail when I was in high school and it taught me a lot about what I wanted to do and also introduced me to a broad spectrum of people I may not have otherwise met. Plus as a shop-a-holic at times the discounts were fantastic! I also encourage teaching a sport/activity (i.e. swimming, skiing, tennis, baseball – the rewards from teaching children are … indescribable)
8. Have your children help with dinner: simple activities like tearing lettuce for a salad or setting the table encourages good eating habits and family time.
9. Daily Cardiovascular Activity: CBC has a very interesting documentary, Brain Gains, on the benefits of 20 minutes of daily cardio every day. It is based on the book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. The results – academically the students scored higher after doing 20 minutes of cardio vascular exercise each day.
10. Lots of hugs: They don’t output any carbon and they teach us the importance of dependence and interdependence.

A Green MBA

As the world becomes more educated it is becoming more common place for individuals to pursue a post-graduate degree. As we all try to ‘out-do’ one and other more people are opting to pursue and MBA degree. Although having a masters this day may be seen as ‘a-dime-a-dozen’ I was always raised to believe that learning is of utmost importance and continuous and that if it something one wants to do than they should do it!

In keeping pace with the changing job economy I was impressed to see that schools are now offering ‘green’ MBAs’. Here are some of the options:

• University of Pennsylvania – Dual Green MBA at the Wharton School and School of Arts and Sciences
• University of North Carolina – Sustainable Management Program
• Antioch University of New England – MBA in Organizational and Environmentally Sustainability
• Griffith University – MBA of Sustainability Specialization and Triple Bottom Line Accounting

The list isn’t bottomless, but there are quite a few options. A short list of others can be found here. In an attempt to keeping up with the changing curriculum many schools are adding ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ courses all the time.

Preparing for Other designations

Some North American colleges and universities are now offering courses that prepare students to write their LEEDs (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). LEED is ever evolving, and will soon have 6 Rating Systems: Commercial Interiors, Core & Shell, New Construction, School & Health Care, Existing Building Operations & Maintenance, and soon to be Neighbourhood Development.

The accreditation’s and programs are adapting to meet the needs of our more sustainable future. As I continue on my quest to write the LEED AP exam this summer I’m continuously dreaming up things I would like to do to my home!

When looking at the courses available this morning I was required to request permission from the instructor to enter the course, not an uncommon thing. I am interested in Dr. Heather MacLean’s Sustainability of Engineering Activities and what caught my attention were the questions she was asking.

Why do you want to take this course?

That was the first of the three questions she posed for our applications and really all students should ask that question before they take the course. Just because it is mandatory stop and think about why you need to take the course, it may change your perspective and improve your grade. Dr. MacLean asked what our previous research experience was and finally what our backgrounds were with sustainability.

My path to where I am now.

That last question really got me thinking about where I am today. In high school had you asked me if I would be a transportation engineer or interested in sustainable development I likely would have said, ‘No.’ Like so many before me somewhere along the way my focus shifted. I was first inspired to go into civil engineering after Laura Taylor’s Urban Geography class when I was doing my economics and urban geography degree. I didn’t believe you could affect urban form without understanding the science behind it and off I went to pursue engineering. While in engineering traffic congestion really frustrated me and I wanted to change it. What I have learned since then is that building more roads, building wider roads is not the answer. Instead it is about compromise, it is about shifting what is considered the cultural norm and accepting that not everyone will share my vision.

My quest for learning continues as I try to finish my masters this fall. Who knows where my learning path will lead me and what will inspire me next, but I’m sure whatever it is will lead to some interesting discussions on my blog!

The Edible Schoolyard

Waters has a different spin on it all. As part of the core curriculum at Martin Luther King Middle School of Berkeley, CA students plant, water, weed and harvest to create their own meals from their schoolyard garden as part of their edible schoolyard. (And the students didn’t lose their playground areas for the garden, instead Waters turned an abandoned parking lot attached to the school into the garden area).

Why is Waters’ doing this? To encourage students to eat healthier and to make informed decisions about what to eat; again her slow food movement versus the fast food so readily available to these students. Ultimately her goal is to have schools include food and how we grow it as part of their formal academic coursework.

Vegetable and Fruit Garden at the White House

Back on March 20th the White House Blog announced that the Obama’s would have an 1100 sq. ft. vegetable garden and on April 9th the planting began. The planted the garden for their children, to encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables at each meal.

We can all learn from the Obama’s and Waters; each famous in their own right and they remind us how important it is to eat healthy. Although it is not possible for many of us to have 1100sq. ft gardens we can access local fresh produce at farmers markets, even at our local grocery stores. In the end it is about making informed decisions and making a difference to reduce our impact on the planet.

By the time the roundtable discussions were over I understood why there is a gap in Sustainable Cities, Green Infrastructure, and everything in between,

The universities fail at a grassroots level to provide programs to students.

Two individuals from Fleming College and Humber College spoke to new programs about Sustainable Design and Building for cities. But I challenge to say that this is not enough. Students are still drawn to the traditional programs, be that general arts and sciences, architecture, engineering, etc. There needs to be a change in what is taught to our students, we need to incorporate courses in sustainable development into the core curriculum of undergraduate students.

I decided to look at 5 schools across Canada and compare them in terms of their general science, engineering and architecture courses. The schools I chose were The University of Toronto, Queens University, The University of British Columbia, McGill University, and The University of Western Ontario.

General Sciences
Outside of the environmental offices there is not much to offer in terms of a sustainable development or design courses. I also decided to investigate which schools offered an urban planning program. It seems that over the past couple of decades that this program has really begun to grow and expand, urban planning has also become a well recognized degree for students to have.
The University of Toronto
The environmental program offered is traditional, but there has been a movement to integrate new ‘sustainable’ courses into the curriculum. New courses include Assessing Global Change, Urban Sustainability, and Ecological Technology.
There is no urban planning program at the undergraduate level, only one at the graduate level.

The University of British Columbia
There are no sustainable courses in environmental science, or the general sciences.
And like U. of T. there is only an urban planning program at the graduate level.

Queens University
Within the science department, specifically environmental, there are courses on Sustainability and the Economics of Sustainable Development.
Again like U.of.T and UBC there is only an Urban Planning Program for Graduate Students

McGill University
McGill also has a traditional environmental science program with no courses on sustainability.
There is an undergraduate program for Urban Planning. The Urban Systems Department is housed in the geography department and does not cover much on sustainable city development.

The University of Western
At Western there unfortunately is not a strong environmental program, it is a more a physical environment program, with courses such as The Physics of the Earth and Tectonic Theory.
The undergraduate Urban Planning has Land-use Planning but nothing on ‘green’ development

Engineering

It should be noted that all but one of the schools have strong environmental engineering courses, which tend to look somewhat at sustainable development. Comparatively environmental engineering typically represents a small proportion of engineering students, however, it is a start. The universities had programs at the graduate level, but my focus was at the undergraduate level.

The University of Toronto
Focusing on the traditional courses from structural analysis to steel and concrete design there are no courses in sustainable development. There are some courses that civil students must take in transportation but nothing in terms of a sustainable cities course.

Queens University
Again Queens focuses on the traditional engineering courses. It also appears that they do not have an environmental stream. (I apologize if they do, I could not find it easily).

The University of British Columbia
Again a focus on the traditional courses. UBC does, however, offer much more in terms of transportation courses, including sustainable transportation for cities.

McGill Engineering
Much like the other schools, McGill focuses on the traditional engineering courses. The engineering school does contain an urban planning department within it.

The University of Western
Nothing in their core engineering classes. In fourth year there is a full year design course, where students take a project from inception through the design process. Looking to build a LEEDS certified building students have had the option to build a LEEDs accredited building. There is also a sustainable development program, but for countries going from undeveloped nations to developed nations.
Architecture
To become an architect it takes eight years and many exams. Not surprisingly most Architecture programs are only offered at the graduate level.

The University of Toronto
The Architecture school is also home to the urban planning school. The masters program is very traditional focusing on structures and interior design. There is only one ‘green’ course, Urbansite Technology.

The University of British Columbia
UBC again has a traditional Architecture school, but within the program there is also an Environmental Design course housing a sustainability area.

Queens University
Does not have an Architecture school.

McGill University
Not only is there a traditional masters program, but McGill also offers students in the building sciences to start Architecture in their fourth year. Although not core courses there are two courses, Sustainable Design and Structure of Cities, that may be taken as electives.

The University of Western
Does not have an Architecture school.

I also thought I would mention the University of Calgary. Not only do they have a masters of Architecture (M.Arch) but also a M.DES, a masters of Environmental Design. It is a combination of traditional Architecture and ‘Green’ Architecture. Courses in the M.DES include Environmental Design and Management of Regional and Cultural Landscapes and Sustainable Futures and Planning Scenarios.

The future of our development is in the hands of the current students. As a whole, campuses need to shift their teachings to include environmental, ‘green’ design into the core curriculums. No doubt some students will reach out to these sustainable technologies, but in order to make ‘green’ main stream it is time we shift our teachings.